I know the term foodie is, to put it mildly, contentious for some people but let’s put that aside for now. The word we’re going to focus on today is mobile. I’m very in to “mobile” this year, both in my personal and professional lives. Back in May, I bought an iPad and now I feel all space-agey. I also got the iPhone4 which has been fun and, dare I say it, useful. And before you close the window and write me off as an Apple fangirl (I might be a little bit, I admit it, but in my defense, I was also a film major so clearly I’m a bit odd) who just likes to drop ridiculous amounts of money on shiny things (I like shiny, but I don’t really like spendy), I should also note that I use these things almost as much for work as I do for everything else. Keeping up on things like the newest gadgets and toys is part of my actual job–as in, someone really does pay me to do that. I also specialize in online, collaborative, social environments and tools like blogs, wikis, concept mapping apps, word processing suites, social networking sites, even…*gasp…Twitter. Yes, that’s right. And I enjoy doing this sort of thing because…well, it’s fun, informative, varied, and we actually apply them to good use in a variety of courses and projects that the university where I work. But lucky for me, I’ve found that my exploration of these things doesn’t just benefit my work projects and my checking account (although I am very glad to be earning a paycheck, and one that does not have the Starbucks logo on it–I mean, I was a film major, after all). My exploration also benefits my hobbies. Well, hobby. Let’s be honest. There’s only really one. And it’s food.
Glorious food.
The internet really spurred on my love for, knowledge of and connection to food. Like a lot of people, once upon a time I discovered Epicurious.com, CookingLight and All Recipes and went crazy over the waterfall of delicious recipes and the growing communities surrounding them. I still visit all those sites, of course, and several others like them, but much like all things intar-webby, the tools that I use now to learn about and participate in the cornucopia (ha! Fall food reference!) of online food resources and communities have expanded, grown and are, frankly, becoming legion. Thus, I decided that instead of a recipe and an engaging dialogue about making said recipe, enthralling you all with my wit and poise, I would write a three-part blog post to share some of the things that make it possible for me to obsess about share my love of food and stalk interact with other food geeks anywhere I am…that receives cell signal. Brief note: this will not work for anyone using an AT&T phone near a glacier. I know. I’ve tried.
Less brief note: What is being a mobile foodie about anyway? Mobile foodiism? Is foodiism a word? Spell-check doesn’t think so. But spell check doesn’t eat either. For me, being a mobile foodie is about utilizing new technology such as hand-held web-enabled devices, software applications and the internet as a whole to research, catalog, shop, discuss, share and encounter markets, restaurants, cooking tips, dining experiences and food in general as cultural force…wherever I happen to be at any given moment. Continue reading →